2009 satellite collision
On February 10, 2009, two communications satellites—the active commercial Iridium 33 and the derelict Russian military Kosmos-2251—accidentally collided at a speed of 11,700 m/s (26,000 mph; 42,000 km/h) and an altitude of 789 kilometres (490 mi) above the Taymyr Peninsula in Siberia.[1][2][3] [4][5][6] It was the first time a hypervelocity collision occurred between two satellites – until then, all accidental hypervelocity collisions had involved a satellite and a piece of space debris.[7]
Kosmos-2251 was a 950-kilogram (2,100 lb) Russian Strela military communications satellite owned by the Russian Space Forces.[8] It was launched on a Russian Cosmos-3M carrier rocket on June 16, 1993.[2] It had been deactivated prior to the collision, and remained in orbit as space debris. Iridium 33 was a 560-kilogram (1,200 lb) US-built commercial satellite and was part of the Iridium constellation of 66 communications satellites owned by Iridium Communications.[2] It was launched on September 14, 1997, atop a Russian Proton rocket.
The collision occurred at 16:56 UTC and destroyed both the Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251. The Iridium satellite was operational at the time of the collision. Kosmos-2251 had gone out of service in 1995.[9] It had no propulsion system,[10] and was no longer actively controlled.[11][12]
